It took me quite a while, but I finally remembered the names of the "furry kids" that I used to spend my time with back in my past life. At least the ones who were still living - many passed on before them and I can't recall all of those, nor do I have any photographs to remind me (of dogs or anything else). There was a big routine when arriving home of opening kennel doors and gates, hearing the dog door to the outside fenced area bang back and forth and refilling feed and water bowls.

The dogs had most of a two car garage, complete with heat and air conditioning, not too bad for critters. When we first installed the dog door, by building an entire wall in the space of one garage door, that seemed to be a great achievement. Except for that first night when I realized that the banging dog door was directly below our bedroom. But, eventually I didn't even hear it. Odd, though, that if there was not a dog snoring in bed next to me at night, I'd wake up.

On weekends, if the weather was decent, some of the little people got to go outside into another fenced area, the play yard. They'd run around sniffing at everything, the males sure to mark their territory and they sure had a lot of territory. Gus, a pretty good sized Boston Terrier, generally went with me over to a concrete retaining wall, where he'd sit on top of it and act like he was king of the world. Abbie, a tiny Jack Russell Terrier, would immediately jump to the top of a doghouse so she could keep an eye out for things to bark about. Meanwhile, Gracie, a little white furry Lhasa who also happened to be deaf, would find a spot for a nap - oblivious to the vocals coming from her house-mates. Those were enjoyable moments for me, far away from a strange reality that was my own life.

These days way up here and 1,000 miles from my past, there's three dogs. A tiny girl, a medium-size boy and a big furry lady. I spend a lot of time with them but since I didn't raise them, there's a different connection than the children of the past. Still, it's comforting to see them here and they all enjoy getting outside to chase rabbits and bark at bighorn sheep.

I don't think I'll ever get another dog for myself. The last one I did get, I couldn't take care of as I couldn't take care of me, either. Thankfully, he now has a happy new home. Dogs give us love without conditions, but we should return the favor by giving them a life of stability and peace.

For many years, I liked dogs much more than I liked people. Maybe I still do.